EP1370915A1

EP1370915A1 - Process control system with image representation system

Info

Publication number: EP1370915A1
Application number: EP02721999A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Uwe Gerk; Marcel Kellner
Original assignee: Siemens AG
Current assignee: Siemens AG
Priority date: 2001-03-23
Filing date: 2002-03-08
Publication date: 2003-12-17
Also published as: US20040145535A1; WO2002077731A1; CN1500235A

Abstract

According to the invention, a process control system comprises an image representation system (7) with which a process image may be distributed across several display devices (9). Said image representation system (7) comprises a graphic adapter (12), modified for determining the distribution of the process image on the display devices (9) in a internal memory (S) on the graphic adapter and to control the display devices (9) for display of the process image with the corresponding process image distribution data for each of the above.

Description

description

PROCESS CONTROL SYSTEM WITH IMAGE DISPLAY SYSTEM

Modern process control systems are used to monitor the operation of a technical system, to automatically carry out certain processes and functions in the system and to ensure that the system can be controlled safely in the event of a fault without causing damage to people and / or material. Examples of such plants are power plants for generating electrical energy, production plants, chemical plants and many more.

Most known technical systems are at least partially operated by personnel who have access to the process control system and thus to the operation of the system. A process control system usually comprises a computer system with viewing devices, for example screens, on which information about the current and / or historical and / or expected future operating state of the system is shown.

Although many functions of a technical system are now automatically performed by the process control system without human intervention, there are still a number of requirements for the operating personnel that must be operated.

In order to perform its tasks, the operating personnel must be provided with information about the operating state of the system in the clearest, most well-prepared and easy-to-read representation by the process control system. For this purpose, it is possible and known, for example, to display one or more information-bearing process images, which are stored in a computer of the process control system and which are updated during operation, on a screen and thus to make them accessible to the operating personnel. The disadvantage here is that the screens that are usually used are very small, so that at the same time only a few people who have to be in the immediate vicinity of the screen can be informed about the operating state of the system. If the operating personnel are currently further away from the screen or very far to the side of the image area of the screen or on the side of the screen opposite the image area, the information displayed is no longer available at this moment. Critical situations that would make human intervention urgently necessary can thus be overlooked and lead to a hazard.

Furthermore, a screen offers only limited space, so that the number of information that can be displayed is limited.

To overcome these disadvantages, it is also known to use a plurality of screens in order to enlarge the area for the display of a process picture.

The disadvantage here is that - if a process picture is to be displayed distributed over several screens - the calculation of the distribution of the process picture over the number of screens is carried out at the latest when three screens are used by means of an additional computer which is specialized in this task (" Image split computer "); if the described function of the image split computer were integrated into a process computer, its computing resources would be so heavily loaded by the function of calculating the image division that the desired and configured functionality of the process control would suffer greatly and, for example, the processing speed and data update rate would decrease significantly. However, an additionally necessary computer for realizing the above-mentioned distributed image representation represents a considerable one

Additional effort for project planning and for those who have to be brought up Costs; furthermore, an additional computer means an additional source of error in the computer system.

Large-screen projection systems are also known, in which a plurality of screen units are combined to form a whole and which are likewise controlled by a specialized image split computer; For example, the Dr. MX terminal and the associated MMT system available from Seuffert. These systems are very complex, have the disadvantages described and are also very expensive.

In addition, large-screen projection systems in particular are mostly designed for operation under the UNIX operating system or derivatives thereof, so that use under the widely used Microsoft Windows operating system is not straightforward.

Colorgraphic Communications Corporation, based in Atlanta, specializes in

Drawing creation using PC ("Computer Aided Design, CAD") graphics cards of the "Predator" series are offered, which are tailored in their technical properties to the requirements of drawing creation under the Microsoft Windows operating system.

The experts working in the field of automation and / or control technology have not yet recognized the possibility and necessity of replacing the image split computer required for displaying a process image on multiple screens with a simpler device which is easier to manufacture and more flexible to use - especially with regard to the different possible image resolutions - and is also cheaper to produce.

The invention is therefore based on the object of specifying a process control system with an image display system which is a simple way to divide and display a process image on several display devices.

According to the invention, the object is achieved by a process control system with an image display system, with which a process image can be divided into a plurality of display devices, the image display system comprising a graphics adapter which is capable of dividing the process image onto the display devices in an internal memory of the graphics adapter - to control mittein and the display devices for displaying the process picture each with the associated determined process picture division data.

A process control system according to the invention makes the use of one or more multichannel image split computers superfluous, in that its functionality is taken over by the graphics adapter, which carries out the calculations in an internal memory which are necessary in order to use multiple display devices, in particular screens and / or images. Projection systems of any available projection area size, to be controlled in such a way that the display of a process image is distributed over the viewing devices.

The graphics adapter is advantageously a PC-compatible graphics card, preferably for use under the Microsoft Windows operating system, with at least three, preferably four, video channels and the graphics adapter-internal memory per video channel has a size of at least 32 MB.

The described number of at least three, preferably four, video channels implements the sizes most in demand by the market for a control system with an image display system; The number of pieces of information that can be displayed on three or four display devices is sufficient to give the operating personnel a sufficiently detailed information picture of the operating status of the technical system without the operating personnel having to record the wealth of information. would be overwhelmed. Furthermore, it has been found that a number of three or four viewing devices, for example screens and / or projection surfaces, represents an optimum in terms of the readability of the information from the screens when a typical process image is shown distributed on the screens. The memory size of at least 32 MB is also a particularly suitable size in order to easily implement the “image split function” on the graphics card in its internal memory, preferably RAM memory, and a sufficiently high processing speed and / or a sufficiently fast image build-up in the display to reach.

Therefore, the invention also leads to the use of an at least three-channel, preferably four-channel, graphics adapter with a graphics adapter-internal memory, which is capable of determining the division of a process image to be displayed on a plurality of display devices between the display devices and the display devices for displaying the process picture in each case to control the associated determined process image division data in a process control system which comprises an image display system with a plurality of display devices.

An exemplary embodiment of the invention is shown below.

Show it:

1 shows a process control system according to the invention, and

2 shows an overview of particularly preferred arrangements of display devices and image resolutions in a process control system according to the invention.

1 shows a process control system 5 according to the invention with an image display system 7. The image display system 7 comprises four viewing devices 9, for example commercially available computer screens or modules of a large-screen projection system. The viewing devices 9 can, of course, be as close together as their design allows, so that in each case only the smallest possible web remains between the image areas of the viewing devices 9.

A graphics adapter 9, for example a graphics card for a PC capable of running under Microsoft Windows, contains an internal graphics adapter memory S, in which the distribution of the representation of a process image on the display devices 9 is determined. The graphics adapter 12 controls the display devices 9 with signals belonging to the determined division, so that a process image is shown distributed over the display devices.

In this exemplary embodiment of the invention, a separate image split computer is not necessary in order to achieve the representation of a process image distributed over the display devices 9.

FIG. 2 shows particularly preferred arrangements of display units 9 in a process control system according to the invention: in FIG 2a, four display units 9 are arranged in a matrix consisting of two rows and four columns; for example, a total image area with a resolution R of 3200 x 2400 pixels can be achieved. In FIG 2b four display devices 9 are arranged in a row; for example, a total image area with a resolution R of 6400 x 1200 pixels can be realized. 2c shows the arrangement of four viewing devices 9 in one column, whereby for example a total image area with a resolution R of 1600 x 4800 pixels can be reached. Finally, FIG. 2d shows the arrangement of three viewing devices 9 in one line, with which, for example, an overall image area with a resolution R of 4800 x 1200 pixels can be achieved. Of course, the viewing devices from FIG. 2 can be moved as close together as possible, so that the remaining webs between the individual image areas are as small as possible.

The achievable total image areas previously shown in connection with FIG. 2 are based on a resolution of the graphics adapter of 1600 x 1200 pixels per channel. If there is a different resolution for each channel, for example 800 x 600 pixels or 1024 x 768 pixels, the resolution of the total area to be achieved in this way must be determined accordingly.

The image resolution of the channels of the graphics adapter is particularly preferably adjustable and / or changeable, so that a suitable overall image resolution can be selected depending on the use of the process control system according to the invention.

Claims

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